Slow but Steady
by blackrose538
Summary: When a supposed long lost criminal comes back into town and the Team starts to investigate, things take a dangerous turn and Neal finds himself doing what he never thought he had to in order to protect someone he cares about. "Because I know, out off all people, you're the one who will catch him." T - just in case. NOW COMPLETE!
1. Just Another Day at Work

_Hello everyone! :) I am (finally) back with a new story for a totally new fandom :) I haven't been writing for quite some time... so it took me a little bit to get used to it again, but I think I finally got into it again :) I hope you guys like this first chapter and will stay tuned for the rest :)_

_**Disclaimer:** I don't own White Collar. Everything belongs to USA Network and Jeff Eastin, except this story idea and events about to come AND any characters that are not from the orginal series. Barry Maloney aka Allan Little is mine.  
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_**Quotes from the show: **I did use moments from the show for this chapter. I'll list them here as they appear in the story: First and second quote taken from "Judgment Day" (3.16), third from "Out of the Box" (1.14)  
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_**Now go ahead and ENJOY this story!**  
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_I want to dedicate this story to a few friends of mine. **Andorian Ice Princess-AIP** for her support on this one and because I keep her waiting for reviews waaaaay too long :( I'm sorry for that and I haven't forgotten about those amazing stories I still have to finish. To my friend Sabby (**AngelwithHorn17**) who's been an amazing support for just about everything lately and to my friend **Evita **who is just as much a White Collar and Neal Caffrey fan as I am :) If it wasn't for her, I may have missed an amazing show ;)_

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**Chapter 01: Just Another Day at Work?**

_The door slowly opened, but because the room was only lit by a bit of sunlight shining through the small dirty window of the basement room, whoever entered, wouldn't be able to see the person pointing a gun at the door. In fact, even he was barely able to make out a silhouette of the gunman. But he could see the door slowly opening and he could almost hear the gunman slowly pulling the trigger. A ray of light from the now lit hallway shone into the room and now he could see it. The gunman was pulling the trigger.  
__He jumped, from his side of the wall, across the door at the same time the bullet left it's chamber, slamming the door shut and then crashing down onto the cold, hard concrete. Before the door was slammed open again, the gunman disappeared through a second door, leading to the outer stairwell that led him right to freedom. He was gone. For now. A bunch of FBI Agents stormed into the room, quickly scanning it, before pursuing through the now open door that lead outside, only one stayed behind._

"_Neal!" _

**_xXxXxXxXx_**

_**Four days earlier...**_

It was quite a beautiful Monday morning. The sun was shining onto the patio, making the world outside look warm and friendly. It looked like a summer morning although it was late Autumn and it wasn't warm outside anymore. In fact, it got quite freezing lately. Winter was on it's way to New York City. Neal stood at the door to his patio, the door opened to let some of the cool morning air into his apartment. He leaned against the door frame and admired the view he got, like he did so many times, a small, but content smile on his face.

"_Regardless of what the committee decides, this is my home now." he had said to Mozzie, after his first hearing before the board, when they wanted to decide whether or not to reduce his sentence. He had been working for Peter and FBI for two years already, half of his sentence was done._

Neal let out a small sigh, taking a sip of his warm coffee. He had been standing in this very spot many times before, letting his mind drift off to another place and time, dwelling on memories, or even trying to figure out a plan if he needed one. Today his mind took him back to the day that changed his life. The day he had to do, what he didn't want to do: run.

_Neal was on his way back from his second hearing when he met Peter outside the building, about to walk inside and give his statement to the board._

"_How'd it go?" Peter had asked him._

"_As well as it could. I think. You know what the nice thing is? It doesn't matter."_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_Hm. You gonna go in there say your piece and the board's gonna make their decision. But with or without my anklet, come Monday morning I'm gonna step of that elevator on the 21st floor to go to work." he had told Peter. And he meant it. There were things of his life in New York, he didn't want to give up. It was his home now and he had people who cared about him. And yet again... things never work out as planned..._

But he was back in New York now. And he was happy to be. He got his old deal back and hopefully Kramer off his back, although Neal feared that Kramer would try again, given the opportunity. But for now he was staying in New York working with Peter, still having his anklet. And he was thankful for that, because he was given a chance that only a few people got. A chance to make a difference, which he did, according to Peter. And maybe he really did. Neal knew that he had changed in the two years that he worked with the FBI. He had learned to trust Peter, the only one in his life he trusted. And no matter how many times he screwed up, or almost screwed up, Peter would always try to help him. Although, in the beginning he didn't seem too happy to have Neal with him, working on cases. He had been careful with his trust, kept him on a rather short leash until he slowly learned to trust him, too. As the time passed, they actually became a pretty good team. And at times, Neal even liked working on the other side of the law, using his knowledge and skills to put other white collar criminals away. Although he once was one himself and didn't want to end up in prison, but he did – twice. Yet working with Peter and having that anklet was the best thing that happened to him. He had people in his life who cared for him. He had someone in his life who was able to either, always find him wherever he went, or to keep him from doing something really stupid, like shooting Fowler. Someone, the only one, who could make him change his mind, as he once admitted.

"_You said goodbye to everyone but me. Why?" Peter had asked him at the hangar, as he was about to get into the plane with Kate._

"_I dunno." Neal had replied, looking at Peter._

"_Yeah. You do. Tell me."_

"_I don't know. Okay?"_

"_Why?"_

"_You know why."_

"_Tell me!" Peter had demanded a third time, not backing down._

"_'Cause you're the only one who could change my mind." Neal replied and took a few more steps toward the plane. Then turned around, wanting to say something, but the plane exploded, killing Kate._

The knock on the door made Neal jump. His mind had taken him into a stupor, totally lost in time and space. It had been just him and his flashback of that fateful day when Kate died. The one person he wanted to have in his life. Forever. He took a deep breath to calm his heartbeat down and turned around to walk up to the door.

"Neal?" he heard Peter's voice as he knocked again. He must have knocked before, because his voice sounded impatient and a little bit worried, too.

"Hey." Neal greeted Peter, as he pulled the door open and looked at the Agent standing in front of him. He must have still looked a little rattled from the flashback and the knock which had pulled him back to reality.

"You okay?" Peter asked, a hint of concern in his voice.

"Yeah... uh, was just lost in thoughts before you knocked..." he replied honestly, even trying a small, but sheepish grin. "Lemme get my hat and we can go."

Peter playfully rolled his eyes. Neal and his hat. The first time he had seen Neal in that suit with the hat he had called him a cartoon, but he came to accept Neal's taste of clothes and even the hat, although the hat-thing he did, was a little annoying sometimes. Neal did love the Classics. He watched the younger man come walking back from his walk-in closet, now wearing his hat. Together they left Neal's apartment and headed downstairs to Peter's car. At the door they met June, the nice woman who had rented her guest "room" to Neal when they first met, while Neal was looking for clothes. He had been lucky to meet June. Not only did he get amazing classic rat pack clothes, but also an amazing home. The older woman greeted the two men with a friendly and warm smile.

"Morning June." Neal said, gently hugging her.

"Good Morning you two." June replied. "You had a good night?" she asked Neal.

"Yeah, I did. Thanks." Neal replied, giving June one of his charming smiles. "Thanks again for the dinner invite."

"Aw, you're welcome. Now you two have a good day." June told them and let them leave. Her and Neal have had dinner the night before and it had been really nice. They were actually talking a lot. June enjoyed dwelling on memories of her late husband and Neal was such a good listener. Not to mention that he was interested when she told him about their adventures. She really enjoyed his company. It was almost like she finally had a son.

"Thanks June. You, too."

Most of the ride to the bureau was spend in silence, neither of them saying much. Both were basically hanging onto their own thoughts for a while until Peter couldn't take it anymore. He was more curious than he thought he would be and he was still wondering what thoughts had Neal overhear his previous two knocks until he finally opened the door for him. He glanced over at Neal, who was looking out of the window right now, obviously lost in thoughts once again.

"What were you thinking about?" he finally asked, pulling Neal from his silence.

"What?"  
"When I picked you up, before you opened the door, what were thinking about?" he repeated his question.

"Nothing really."

"C'mon, you overheard two knocks and a call of your name... had to be something."

Neal looked at Peter and then sighed. Sometimes he just wasn't sure if he wanted to share his thoughts with the agent. True, they had become friends over the years they worked together, but they also did have their trust issues between them and it wasn't like Neal ran around the world sharing his thoughts. But then again, those were memories they both had, so why not just share them and satisfy Peter's curiosity. It wasn't like Peter didn't care. He wouldn't have asked if he didn't. "You really wanna know?"

"Wouldn't ask if I didn't." Peter told him, but noticed the sound of Neal's voice. It had a somewhat sad tone to it as he asked, so Peter glanced over to him.

"Okay... I was dwelling on memories."

"Kate?"

"Yeah, Kate, too." he replied.

Peter gave a small nod as he pulled the car into the FBI's parking lot, going for his usual spot. He slowly pulled into the parking space and then shut the engine down, before he looked at Neal. He wondered if it was just a memory that came back, or if perhaps it was a flashback. But he seemed to be okay, no shaking nothing that suggested otherwise. "You gonna be okay?"

"Yep. Just some memories, nothing to worry about." was Neal's answer before the young man got out of the car and then waited for Peter to catch up so they could get up to the 21st floor and go to work.

**_xXxXxXxXx_**

The first two hours of the morning had been filled with boring paperwork for Neal. Writing the report for the latest case they closed, since Peter was going through files of possible new cases. Since Peter knew that Neal was a little behind with his latest report he had put him on desk duty until he was needed to work on another case, or he was done with his report. There was time when Neal handed that task off to someone else, since paperwork wasn't really his favorite task of the job, but after Peter caught on to him and told him that he had to write his reports on his own, Neal actually did that now. At least most of the time. The young man glanced up to Peter's office, seeing him busily studying case files, but obviously he hadn't found one that he found interesting enough to pursue. Neal sighed, setting his pen down and stared into the space in front of his desk for a few minutes before he tiredly rubbed his face and got up, grabbing his empty mug to get some more coffee. He was almost done with his report, only a few more details needed to be sorted out so he could hand it to Hughes, who was already waiting for it. Neal set his mug down and grabbed the pot of coffee. Thankfully it was still hot. He poured some of it into his mug and then put it back, grabbing a bag of sugar and added it to his black coffee.

He looked up from his cup of coffee just in time to see Diana quickly walking across the room and up the stairs to Peter's office, a case file in her hand. Peter looked up at the younger female Agent, just a second after she knocked onto the glass wall next to the open door. Diana entered his office and handed the file to Peter, talking to him. Although the door was left open, Neal wasn't close enough to understand what was being said, but from watching the two agents, he could tell that Diana must have found the new case for the team. Peter was looking through the case file while he listened to Diana, occasionally nodding in reply, before he looked up at her. And Neal knew the look on Peter's face. He was interested and it seemed to be an important case, too. The two agents walked out of Peter's office and stopped at the railing, looking into the big office room. He was about to call his team into the conference room for a briefing.

"Team to the conference room. We have a new case." Peter called out to the agents in the office room, three of them instantly getting up to walk up to the conference room, including Agent Clinton Jones. There were also two other agents who would work on this case, but the main team was mostly Jones, Diana, Peter and Neal. The latter picked up his cup of coffee and walked up to the conference room as well, taking his time, as the way up wasn't too long anyway. Everyone took a seat at the table, except for Peter who was standing at one end of the table, facing his team. Diana had gone to get some more copies of the case file, so everyone would have his own file to look at.

"So, Diana found our new case." Peter started, turning the electric white board on, which was now showing a picture of a blond male in his late forties, whose bright green eyes had a somewhat evil glare to them. "Barry Maloney, 48. He's back in New York after he was off our radar for a couple of years. He's a suspect in many Mortgage Fraud cases and on the most wanted list of the Bureau for years. But so far we couldn't prove any of our suspicions."

Neal looked at the picture of the Irish male. He didn't know much about him. All he knew was he indeed was a White Collar Criminal, but he hid his traces very well. He hadn't dealt with him personally though. But he heard that Barry Maloney wasn't known for showing mercy to betrayers, or those who stuck their noses where they didn't belong. They had to proceed carefully. Very carefully. When noticed the silence around him and felt everyone looking at him, he looked away from the picture and around the room, then up at Peter, who looked at him with raised eyebrows. It happened again. He hadn't heard his question. Neal cleared his throat and took a deep breath.

"I don't know much about him. Never dealt with him in person. But I know that he's known for his temper and he shows no mercy on betrayers or those who are too curious for his liking." he said. "If... when we investigate him, we need to be careful. He's got more Blue Collar written over him than we know."

"And you just know that?" Jones asked him, raising one of his brows at Caffrey.

"Hearsay, yeah. And I may have... seen his temper once or twice, but not intentionally and never as one of his men." Neal replied honestly, holding his hands up in front of him.

"Alright, that's not our topic. Neal..." Peter said, looking at his younger partner.

"Try to find out what he's planning. I'm on it." Neal finished his sentence. They have been working together long enough for him to know what he was supposed to do and what Peter would ask him to do. Sometimes he could read the older agent's mind.

At the same time Diana returned with the case files and handed one to each person at the table, before she sat down on a chair, too. Neal opened the case file and peeked inside. There was a long list of things Barry Maloney was suspected of, yet again, there was never enough proof to pin any of it on him. That Maloney fellow was just good at covering his tracks, but something made Neal wanting to uncover those tracks and nail him. Yes, sometimes he really liked his new job as a consultant.

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_**THANKS everyone for reading! Please be kind and leave a review for me and let me know how you guys liked this. I'm dying for your opinion! (And I'm eager to learn, although I do my homework ;)) **_

_**STAY TUNED FOR MORE! :)**_

_**blackrose538**_


	2. First Steps

**_I want to thank everyone for reading the first chapter of this story. Special THANK YOU goes to everyone who reviewed! You guys have been amazing and your reviews mean so much to me! Keeps the muse alive and keeps new chapters and possibly new stories coming up. THANK YOU SO MUCH! :) Although I would like to see a few more reviews this time... Every author wants to know how their work is liked by their readers, so please do take the minute to write a few words._  
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**_This is for my Spanish readers, since I got a few reviews that were written in Spanish :)  
_**_**A todos mis lectores españoles: muchas gracias para tus comentarios! Significan mucho para mí. Español y inglés no son mis idomas materno, pero lo apredí hace muchos años en la escuela.. (sadly I'm not very good at Spanish anymore :( but I still understand mosz of it :))**_

_**So now ENJOY this chapter!**_

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**Chapter 02: First Steps**

It got late that day for Neal at the office. He spent most of his time, either on the phone with Mozzie or researching all the information about Barry Maloney that he could get. Something told him that this case was going to be a lot more difficult and a lot different from what Neal was used to. From what he had heard about Maloney, trying to take him down could get dangerous for almost everyone involved. It was all hearsay to Neal, as he didn't know anyone who worked with Maloney before and had actually witnessed any of what they said he was capable of. Neal had no idea if Maloney had in fact killed someone and made the body vanish, because that sounded a little too much like some sort of mob. Nobody knew if maybe Maloney belonged to the mob, or if perhaps he had belonged to it at some point in his early and managed to make a break out of it and start his own business, but Neal didn't really believe that could be true. Yet he wasn't going to deny that he indeed thought it could get dangerous. Those evil green eyes and the way he was looking on that picture in the case file made him believe that Barry Maloney was capable of almost anything. Maybe even of killing someone and making the body disappear and nothing stick to him, like nothing ever stuck to him before.  
"_Don't meet trouble halfway, Neal... you have no idea if those rumors are true and IF something is going to happen at all... you've managed dangerous situations before..." _Neal told himself as he walked up the stairs to his apartment. It was way after 8 PM, not his usual time to get home, but his research had taken him longer than he had expected. And he had also been meeting with someone from the past, who had worked with Barry Maloney once. He knew all he needed to know for now. Barry was ruthless, yet he was fair to those who deserved it. And yet again, nothing would stick if someone looked into it. Neal unlocked the door to his apartment and stepped inside. The apartment was dark, only the city lights shining into the room. Mozzie wasn't there yet. But Neal knew it wouldn't take him long to arrive, they had just talked on the phone and Moz said he was already on his way over. Neal walked right into his walk-in closet and stripped down to his underwear, then put a pair of sweat pants on and walked out of the room and up to the kitchenette, where he took two wine glasses out of the cupboard and walked up to his dining table and put the glasses down. Then he made his way over to the wine rack and chose a bottle that was to his liking. Back at the table he opened the bottle and poured some wine into both glasses and let them on the table, bottle opened so the wine could breathe. Neal walked over to the patio doors and opened them, standing at the same spot again as this morning. A few minutes later he heard a knock on the door.

"Come on in. Door's open." Neal called out, turning around to face the door, only to watch Mozzie coming in, closing the door behind him. Neal walked back to the dining table and handed him one of the glasses, while he took the other one.

"Did the suits find anything?" Moz asked, holding his glass of wine and looked at Neal, who shook his head in reply.

"Nothing about what he's up to. They don't even know where he's been since he disappeared. What about you?"

"Well, as far as I could find out, he's planning some sort of investment fraud through a company that he made up three years ago." Moz said, now sipping at his wine. "As far as the word spread, he'd been in Europe for the past couple of years, where he came up with that company. He seems to be successful enough to come back and try the same fraud here in New York."

"But why hasn't the FBI come up with this information?"

"He created a new alias overseas and hasn't been caught, yet. He goes by the name Allan Little now."

"Nice. Anything else?" Neal asked, taking a sip of his wine before he sat down at the dining table, followed by Mozzie doing the same. Mozzie looked at Neal, silent for a few seconds.

"He's always looking for a few good men to hire... Nicholas Halden may fit his criteria perfectly, but I'm not sure you really want to do this whole undercover thing. Last one who tried to fool him ended up at the bottom of the ocean. Unknown to anyone of course."

"How'd you find out?"

"I may know someone who witnessed... something." Mozzie replied reluctantly. "What's your plan Neal?"

"I'm thinking, maybe Nick Halden may be able to get a job with Allan Little... that way he can look around for proof." Neal replied, looking at his friend, as he took another sip of his wine.

"I could ask around and see if I can get you a meeting. But if he gets suspicious or catches you snooping around, it can get ugly real fast."

"I know. I just gotta be more careful then." he replied. "It's not the first time I stick my nose where it doesn't belong. Plus I'll always have contact to Peter and the guys in the van. He's never let me go undercover without being able to keep track of me and he won't start doing so anytime soon."

"All I'm saying is Maloney's not stupid." Mozzie said, looking at his friend. "Just watch your back, okay?"

A small smile appeared on Neal's face as he heard the concern in Mozzie's voice. Usually Mozzie would be providing him with more details now but the fact that he simply warned him, reassured Neal that he indeed needed to be careful and that Maloney wasn't to be underestimated. "I will."

_**xXxXxXxXx**_

The typical ding-sound of the elevator indicated that it had arrived on the 21st floor. The doors opened and Agent Peter Burke stepped out of the cabin and turned to enter the office through the glass double door. He was a little stunned to see that Neal was already sitting at his desk, working on his computer. He began to wonder whether it was a good sign or not, but he figured that maybe Neal found information about their case and was doing additional research. Neal didn't even look up when Peter entered the room. The young man had a frown on his face and seemed to be a little frustrated as he typed something into the computer and then hit the enter button a little harder than necessary. His blue eyes looked up at Peter, when he stopped in front of his desk. Neal offered Peter one of his usual sunny smiles, hiding his frustration perfectly.

"Morning Peter." he greeted the older agent, sounding as cheerful as could be. If Peter hadn't seen the frown on his face before, he'd say Neal was in a good mood, as usual.

"You're in early." Peter replied after a small nod, eying his younger partner curiously. "What ya up to?"

"Research. Well, trying to at least." Neal replied with a small sigh. "Mozzie provided me with some information about Barry Maloney and I was just checking what I could find out on my own."

Peter raised his brows, intrigued. He was curious to know what they were able to find what the FBI couldn't. Sometimes it was fascinating to see how they always came up with information when no one else would. But Peter mostly didn't want to know how they got their information. When it came to Mozzie, he was better off not knowing. Besides, that little man had strange ways about him anyway. He was quite... secretive and yet a conspiracy freak at some points. But he couldn't deny that said strange man had successfully helped them out of trouble every now and then, so he wouldn't dare to complain. He was like a part of the package. Neal without Mozzie was almost not imaginable, if not impossible. "I'm listening."  
Neal pulled his chair back from the table and got up. He needed another refill of coffee. He grabbed the empty mug from his desk and mentioned to Peter to follow him over to the kitchenette. "He's created a new alias in Europe. Ireland and France to be exact." Neal said as they walked to the kitchenette, where Neal set his mug down and refilled it, while Peter got a mug for himself and watched as Neal filled that one with the black liquid, too. "He's in the states as Allan Little, he just expanded his company, "Little Investments". Now speaking of Maloney, there's nothing honest behind this company I guess. I was trying to find something about it, but there's nothing illegal to be found. Same goes for his alias, too."

"So that's what had you frustrated." Peter said arching his brows a little.

Neal looked up, surprise in his blue eyes. He didn't think that Peter would have seen that when he entered the office, but obviously he had. He shrugged a little. "I guess. He's been careful and smart."

"But not smart enough for us. We knew he was in town but... why didn't we know his alias?"

"Maybe he didn't use it when he entered the country." Neal replied, picking up his mug and taking a small sip of hot coffee. "After all, you wouldn't have known he was here if he did. And Allan Little isn't listed as known aliases in the FBI files. And even Interpol doesn't seem to have anything on Allan Little. Not the tiniest disrespect of the law."

"Hm. Guess he really has been careful." Peter replied as he looked up and into the office, where Jones and Diana had just arrived. Perfect timing, like usual.

"Yeah and we should be, too." Neal said, taking his mug. He walked back into the office, greeting Jones and Diana with a smile and nod. Peter followed close behind, his own mug in his hand.

"Meeting in the conference room in 5." Peter told his team and then headed up the stairs to his office, where he took his coat and suit jacket off and thought about what Neal just told him, then ran a little search on Allan Little, coming up with the same knowledge Neal did. Well, if no one had caught Mr. Little yet, then Peter was glad to be the first one to add a new alias to one of the FBI's most wanted criminal.

_**xXxXxXxXx**_

Peter and Neal had shared their information with the team and they had been discussing possible plans right after that. Of course, one of them was to get Neal into the company and have him retrieve information, but since everyone figured if he got caught it was going to get dangerous, they tried to find an alternative, which they didn't find as easily as they hoped, so they gave Neal a shot, trying to get a job at the company. And since he was supposed to get people invest their money that should be easy. Neal could sell a used pair of socks if he needed to. But still, after Neal confirmed that Maloney may be capable of killing someone and expose of the body, Peter wasn't too happy about Neal going undercover on this one.

"You wear that watch at all times, got it?" Peter told him seriously. "At the slightest sense of danger you give us the sign to move in."

"Peter, relax. First, I'm not even undercover yet and this isn't the first time we do this." Neal said, being his usual calm self. Sure, he was going to be tense once he got into the company, but right now, he had other things to worry about: getting into it, for example. Mozzie hadn't called him yet on any meeting point or suggestions how he could get a meeting with Barry Maloney, so until then, he'll be relaxed as always. Right now it was just another day at work. However, he knew that could change in a heartbeat.

"I know, but when you are. Not another Jimmy Burger, got it?"

"Yeah." Neal said, his voice having a slight bit of annoyance to it. "Yeah, I got it."

Peter opened his mouth to say something else, but he didn't get the change to. Right in that moment, Neal's phone rang. Peter watched as the younger man got his phone out of his pocket and looked at the idea before he excused himself and left the room to take the call. Peter watched through the glass walls, as Neal stood by the railing, his back to the conference room as he listened to whoever called him. Peter figured it was probably Mozzie. Who else would it be at this hour if not Mozzie. A few minutes later Neal hung up the phone and walked back into the conference room, a somewhat serious look on his face.

"Allan Little is interested in meeting Nicholas Halden. I'm meeting him at 5 this afternoon at the Bethesda Fountain." Neal said as he sat back down on the chair he had been sitting on before. Peter was still standing at the end of the table. He now looked at Neal and knew this may be their only chance. Neal wouldn't get caught, right? He never did, well mostly he didn't.

"Alright. We'll get the van close... 5th Avenue on the corner to Terrace Drive should be perfect. It may raise suspicion if we park it inside Central Park. Two of us will be staying close, just in case."

"I can live with that. But make sure you don't scare him off. He may have a trained eye for cops or feds." Neal replied, looking up at Peter. Part of him was serious, part of him was teasing.

"You do what you do best and let us worry about the rest." Peter replied seriously but he gave the younger man a small nod. He meant it well and he was right, Barry Maloney may know what undercover cops or feds acted like, so they had to be extra cautious.

"Yes sir." Neal replied with a small grin, earning a serious face from Peter that instantly made his grin vanish.

_**xXxXxXxXx**_

Neal entered the location at Bethesda Fountain in Central Park wearing the watch he always wore when he was undercover. He was without his anklet and it always felt like a piece of freedom to him. Everyone knew that he could run at any time if he wanted to, but over the years they've learned that Neal wouldn't run. Not if he didn't need to. And he never ran before, except once when Peter merely gave him a signal to run. Neal wouldn't have been free, even if his sentence had been reduced. He would have been taken away from his home to Washington D.C. Agent Kramer would have done everything to ensure that. Well, he would have arrested Neal for something so small that it almost felt like they had arrived back at kindergarten. But now everything was back to the way it was before Neal had taken off to Cape Verde. Neal was happy to be back. New York had become his home and although he did leave the Big Apple in the end, he was devastated to know that he had to. He had to leave everything behind and he couldn't come back. But in order to protect his friend from Kyle Collins, Peter traveled to that island himself, because he knew how ruthless and reckless Collins could be. Like Mozzie had put it so very right: _"He rather brings his captures home in a body bag than not at all." _But it didn't matter anymore. Peter had brought him home again. Home to New York where he belonged.  
After walking through the arches Neal continued down the wide path toward the fountain where he was supposed to sit at the edge of the basin. The dark-haired male walked down the few steps of the stairs and up to the big fountain, letting his bright blue eyes wander around the area, trying to spot the man he was looking for in the small crowds, but he failed. He was probably in a disguise of sorts or kept himself very well from Neal's view. Neal sat down on the edge of the fountain, so the way he came from was to his right and the water of The Lake to his left. His blue eyes were still scanning the crowd. On the stone bench by the water he spotted Jones and Diana acting like a couple on a date, while they were watching the space around the fountain. Then finally he spotted a man Barry's age, height and looks, coming from the same direction he came from. Neal looked down to his left, pretending to scratch his neck so he could let Peter in the van know that he saw Barry, or Allan Little as they had to call him now.

"Showtime." Neal said, staying put and raised his head again. The older man sat down next to him, his green eyes almost boring themselves into Neal's as he looked up at him. That was Barry Maloney, there was no doubt about it. Those penetrating, yet evil green eyes were the giveaway for someone who had looked at them in case files one too many times. A second later however, that evil glare disappeared and interest started to show through those eyes. He was a little taller than Neal was, so Neal actually did look up to him. Despite his alias' last name Little, Maloney was anything but little.

"You're Nick Halden." Allan Little stated more than he asked. Of course he'd know what Nick Halden may look like. After all, he'd do some research before he'd meet with someone who wanted to meet him so desperately.

"I am." Neal replied.

Allan Little extended his hand to Neal, who took it for a manly, strong handshake. "Allan Little." he said, his thick Irish Accent still to be heard, although he tried to sound British. "Your friend said you're looking for work."

"That's correct. That's why he set up this meeting for me. I was caug..."

"Uh-uh. That's enough already." Little interrupted him. "No details about personal things. The less others know about you, the better. Besides, there's only one thing I need to know."

"What's that?"

"Have you ever worked in an investment company?"

"I've sold stock before."

"Well, this works similar. You good at selling?"

"I can sell used socks if I need to." Neal replied with a slight grin. "That's what I've been told, however."

"Well, used socks is not what this is about. Your job would be talking people into sending their money to us for investments that would have a great return for them. But I like that attitude."

"Thanks. I can do that." Neal said quickly. He wasn't quite sure he'd actually get a job with Allan Little, but he realized they only had this one shot. Allan touched his chin, his green eyes once again almost spearing Neal. It felt like he could see right through him and Neal didn't like that feeling at all. It made it quite a bit uncomfortable.

"Well... I just expanded my company from Europe to New York, so I could use a few good men..." Allan finally said, his tone calm and almost friendly. "I'll give you a shot, don't mess it up."

"I won't." Neal replied with a slight nod, his mind exhaling a sigh of relief.

"Good. Here's my card, you call any time. Address of the company is the same where you will be at tomorrow at 8 AM. The office's on the 5th floor."

Neal took the business card Allan Little aka Barry Maloney was handing him and nodded a little as he listened. "Thank you, Mr. Little."

"Don't thank me too soon, boy." Little replied, getting up from the edge of the fountain. "8AM, don't be late." he said before he turned on his heels and walked away, blending in perfectly. Neal watched him leave for a few seconds before he looked down at the business card and studied the address and name.  
"Little Investments – what a nice name for a scam." he quietly said to himself as he then got up himself and made his way back to the van.

* * *

_**Thanks everyone for taking the time to read this! Please remember to take a moment and leave a review, okay? It means so much to me. Thanks  
**__**blackrose538**_


	3. Showtime

**_WOW! Thanks everyone for the lovely reviews! I'm glad you all enjoy this story, makes it even more fun for me to write._**

_**ENJOY!**_

* * *

**Chapter 03: Showtime**

Early that Wednesday morning, Neal had talked to Peter on the phone. He had assured him that he'd wear his watch at all times and that he'd keep it on, no matter what. Unless he had to turn it off for his own safety, for example if he was checked with a weapons detector or something like that. After that was settled Neal knew that Peter and the team would stick close with the van, so they could hear what was going on, so Neal would make sure to stop by when he was done with his day at Little Investments. Of course he'd have to do that very carefully, assuring that no one saw him getting into that van with the Feds inside. He didn't want to blow his cover before he got what they needed. Five minutes after hanging up with Peter, Neal headed out of the door and made his way to work. He had exactly 45 minutes left and it would be more than enough time to get to the office building. The handsome young man wore a dark blue suit, like usual and his favorite tie. He was good-looking like always. Well, at least he was satisfied with himself. Neal had left his hat at home, though. That was Neal Caffrey, today he had to be Nick Halden. And somehow that worked better without a hat.  
Once he reached the 20 stories high office building he stopped and looked up, cautiously checking the exterior with his bright blue eyes, which had a touch of gray in them this morning. They could have been the perfect reflection of the sky, because this morning the sun wasn't shining. In fact, it actually quite cool outside, every exhaled breath turned right into grayish clouds of fog. It looked like he was smoking, when in fact he wasn't. Once again Neal realized just how close Winter actually was. He pulled up his shoulders a little before he walked into the building, again letting his eyes take in as much details as possible as he walked past a reception table, giving the beautiful female receptionist a charming smile as he continued to the elevators, one of them was already down, doors open and waiting for a passenger to get on. Neal walked up to that elevator and got inside, pressing the button for the 5th floor and watched as the doors of the elevator closed in front of him. Within a minute he reached his destination and stepped off the elevator. The door to the office area was closed, but a sign on the door read "Little Investments – Investments and Stock Marketing."

"Stock Marketing, huh? He didn't say that about his company." Neal murmured to himself, pulling the business card out of his pocket. The business card only said "Little Investments" and the address of the office building, plus the name of the owner, Allan Little and his phone number. "Clever..."

Neal walked up to the door and rang the bell to it's right and waited for an answer. There was not a sound to be heard through the door, it seemed pretty quiet around him. However, despite all the quietness the door opened only a few seconds later and in front of him stood a beautiful brunette, whose dark brown eyes suspiciously eyed the man standing in front of her. She wore her hair in small curls, the hair from the sides pinned to the back of her head while the rest fell loosely onto her back and shoulders. Only a few stray curls of hair hang down the side of head. Some hair was simply brushed behind her ear, also covering her forehead. Her skin had a golden tan, making her look Latin or Mediterranean. After a few seconds her lips cracked into a small, but friendly smile and her brown eyes sparkled a little mischievously.

"You must be Nick Halden." she said with slightly Spanish accent to her soft voice. She stepped aside and let Neal enter the office space. Neal gave her one of his charming smiles and extended his hand to her for a handshake, which she accepted.

"Indeed I am." he he said with a slight nod as he walked into the room.

To his right was the reception desk, the workspace of the nice woman who opened the door. There were a few rosewood filing cabinets behind, a computer and a phone. A few small paintings graced the only walls that weren't made of glass. To the left was a big, separate office which belonged to Allan Little. The blinds to the reception desk were only partly closed so Neal was able to see inside and spot Little sitting at his desk. Ahead of Neal the entrance area opened into the big open-plan office where a few of Neal's new co-workers were gathered around one of the desks, talking. From what Neal could see it seemed like this office had been active for at least a week or two. Thin half walls were separating each workspace from the other. Each one of those booths had a desk with a computer and writing material. Calls were made directly via the computer and probably recorded.

"Nice to meet you, Nick. I'm Elizabeth, boss' secretary and basically woman for everything in here. But you can call me Liz like everyone else does." Elizabeth replied, still wearing her friendly smile. "You mind me calling you Nick?"

"No, not at all."

Elizabeth, as in Elizabeth Little, or Elizabeth Maloney, Barry's wife and probably also Allan Little's wife. She was 32 years old, very beautiful and from what Neal remembered from her file, she was also quite a skilled thief and been playing cat and mouse with the police and the feds for almost a decade now. However, she hadn't always been a thief and felon. In fact, she had had training for the other side of the law, wanting to become a NYPD police officer at some point in her life. She even had specialized training to become a sniper for the SWAT or Special Response Unit. But then some sort of tragedy must have happened that made her change her mind and quit with the NYPD, when she had been on duty for a little more than two years. Whatever it was might remain a mystery to everyone else as she had managed to get her files sealed. Even the FBI had been locked out. If they knew what the sealed record was about or not remained a mystery to Neal, too. There was nothing in her FBI file and Neal didn't really care about that right now. He had his own life changing events in his past and he was sure whatever reason had them seal that record, it had been bad enough for Elizabeth to quit with the NYPD and join the other site.

"Well, come on. I'll show you around and then Allan wants another word with you." Liz said, but just as she did Allan came walking out of the open-plan office and up to them.

"Well Mr. Halden, you're in early." he said, shaking Neal's hand. "I like that already."

"Thank you Mr. Little." Neal replied with a small but charming smile. "Figured I may need some showing around and learning the ropes before I get stared so might as well be here early. More time for potential customers."

"Good attitude." Allan said with an appreciative nod. "And please, call me Allan."

"Alright, Allan then. Call me Nick."

Allan nodded a little. He couldn't help but notice Nick's sunny attitude and yet being eager to start. He actually liked that, but still, his trained con senses were on alert. He wasn't a man who easily trusted strangers anyways. No, Nick Halden had to earn his trust and that wouldn't be too easy on him. Together the three of them started their way into the open-plan, where Allan Little introduced Nick Halden to his new co-workers. The first he met was Louisa Clayworth, a quite young woman, with long blazing red hair and sapphire blue eyes, who came from England, as Neal could tell by her thick British accent. Next to her stood André Rousseau, one of two employees he took with him from France and also one of two trusted employees. André spoke English well, but his french accent was very noticeable and he seemed to really like Louisa, that Neal could tell from the way he looked at the young woman, when he thought he was unnoticed. André had short dark brown hair, which he wore quite messy, and hazel eyes. He also had a thin mustache. The second trusted employee that Allan Little had taken with him from France was Abigail Vos, or Abby as she wanted to be called. Abigail, so Neal was informed, came from Netherlands before she started to work for Little in France. Abigail was about the same age as Elizabeth and had honey blond short hair and light blue eyes. Abby was a little overweight but still beautiful, the short blond hair suited her perfectly. There was only little left of her dutch accent. The last of his new co-workers was sitting a little aside at his desk. His name was Johnny Davis, a man with dirty blond, messy hair and greenish brown eyes who mostly kept to himself. His face seemed familiar to Neal, like he'd seen him before somewhere, but he couldn't quite point his finger. After being introduced to everyone, Neal was shown to his desk and Allan excused himself and left for his office. Elizabeth taught him how their program worked, how to make a call and other important things he needed to know, then she gave him a test run on a potential customer. It was like back in his first year working with Peter, when they took down a boiler room fraud.

_**xXxXxXxXx**_

A few hours later Neal pushed back his chair and stood up. He had managed to get quite the score in the past four hours but now he desperately needed a coffee break and maybe some fresh air, if he was allowed. In the corner of the room, right next to Allan Little's big office was a quite spacious kitchenette with a dining table for six, a microwave, coffee maker and a small fridge. It was a perfect break room, just what Neal needed. On the right side of the kitchenette was a door that led to a small balcony, which was as long as that side of the building. Neal grabbed a mug from the counter and filled it with the black, steamy liquid and then added a bit of sugar to it, before he took it into his hands and opened the door to step onto the balcony. Neal walked up to the railing, breathing in the crisp air around him. The sky was still gray and it felt like it could start snowing any minute. But the weather report didn't say anything about snow for the next couple of days. But who knew? It wouldn't be the first time they got it all wrong.  
Neal let his gaze wander over the busy city, as he took a sip of his hot coffee and then smiled a little. That wasn't a bad roast they had here. Not as good as his Italian roast he got at June's but way better than what the bureau had to offer. He didn't get a chance to check either the reception desk nor the big office yet, but he hoped that maybe lunch break at noon until 1:30 PM would provide him with an opportunity. Neal closed his eyes for a moment, letting the cold air and the traffic sound taking over. It was a nice feeling hearing something else than people on the phone and actually feeling the cold fresh air on his cheeks as a mild breeze gently lifted some of his dark hair. But he wasn't alone for very long. Only a few minutes later, Neal heard the door open again and so he turned his head to see who it was. It was the honey blond Abby, who joined him with a cigarette in her hand.

"Mind if I join you?" she asked him, as she stopped next to him at the railing. Neal offered her a small charming smile.

"No, not at all." he replied in his usual cheerful, yet soft voice. Abby returned his smile and lit up her cigarette. She inhaled two times before she looked back at Neal and sighed a bit.

"Bad habit." she said, nodding down to the cigarette in her hand.

"We all have 'em."

"Yeah... well I stopped two years ago, but when I came back to work a year later I started all over again..."

"What made you stop?"

"I got pregnant." Abby replied. "Some pounds are still left..."

"Well in your case very beautiful pounds." Neal replied with another charming smile. Yeah, that was the easiest part of his job.

"Thanks." Abby replied and Neal could notice her blushing a little.

"How old, if I may ask?"

"They're about to turn 2 in January." Abby replied and noticed Neal's look on his face change to surprise. "I had twin daughters. So... what did you do before you started here?"

"Uh... you know I've kept afloat with smaller jobs here and there, nothing too interesting really."

"Well, I'm interested." Abby replied, giving him a slightly demanding look. It almost seemed like Little had told her to question him a little.

"Well, most of the time I'd be gambling for some money. Sometimes I did jobs, that I can't talk about, sorry."

"I understand... been there, too."

"Why are you still here? I mean a business like that and having children..."

"Allan pays me good money and I've worked with him almost a decade now. Never had a better job than this one."

Neal nodded a little in reply. A stronger blow of wind made shiver slightly and he decided he spent enough time out here. After all, getting sick wasn't what he had in mind. "I better get back to work." he said to which Abby only nodded, raising his hand signaling him she'd be finishing her cigarette.

Neal walked back into the open-plan and to his desk, seeing that Elizabeth was now in Allan's office. He couldn't tell what they were talking about but from the gestures he figured it was more personal than it was business. From where Neal was sitting right now, he noticed a small bump on Elizabeth and a small smirk formed on his face. He hadn't noticed this before but he knew quite well what that bump was about. Yet he could still be wrong. Neal set his mug down on his desk and sat back down, leaning back in his chair, watching Allan and Liz in the office until Liz walked out and back to her desk about two minutes later, a small smile on her face. That was when Neal got back to work, too. Although this time it was a little more detective work he was doing on his computer. He had a list of people, potential 'customers' that he had wanted to safe on a small USB flash drive, hidden in his cuff button. But as long as someone could notice it, he couldn't do it. But that didn't mean that he couldn't snoop around the computer and see what else he may be able to find out, although he figured he'd find nothing on his computer but he'd find more on Liz' or Allan's computer. But those were two spots he couldn't reach right now. Two more hours to go before lunch break, he had to make the best of it. And time would pass sooner than he expected.

Two hours later everyone shut down their computers for lunch break. Neal leaned back in his chair and watched. He had only switched off the monitor so it looked like he'd be leaving, too. Johnny was the first who left the office for lunch, followed by Louisa and André, who were already wrapped up in another conversation. Abby met up with Allan and Elizabeth at the door. Elizabeth turned around and looked at Neal with slightly raised brows. "You not coming?" she asked in surprise.

"Nah, I'll follow in a minute, gotta make a phone call first." Neal replied, resting his blue eyes on Liz.

"Alright... make sure to close the door behind yourself."

"I will. Thanks."

And within a few seconds Neal was all alone in the office for the very first time that day. He quickly removed his cuff button and got the USB flash drive out and plugged it into his computer, wanting to safe the list first, while took his phone out, in case someone came back into the room. After downloading the list, Neal put the flash drive back where it belonged and quickly made his way to the office. It wasn't locked. Obviously Allan thought no one would snoop around this room. Maybe no one dared before. Neal left the door open so he'd hear what was going on outside. The first thing he checked were the filing cabinets. He quickly scanned through the drawers not finding anything that would catch his eye, besides files of numbers. In another cabinet he kept a few files about former employees and those currently employed. However, he didn't find a file with his name in it. Maybe Maloney hadn't had the time to make one yet, or he wasn't sure if Nick Halden would be staying longer than just one day. Neal didn't have much time to worry about it as he walked to the computer on the desk, but it was password protected. Neal sat down and looked around the desk. There was a wedding picture of Barry Maloney and Elizabeth on his desk. He tried the first combination that came to his mind but it got it wrong. He looked around again, thinking of another possibility, but he was interrupted by a sound coming from outside the office. He quickly turned Barry's computer off again and left the office. But he didn't notice the set of eyes watching him from Elizabeth's reception desk and seeing him leave the office. Neal didn't stop at the reception desk, but left the building this time. He didn't want to risk his cover, so he decided he'd try and check Elizabeth's desk and computer later. Maybe he'd even find a way to get Allan's password for the computer.

_**xXxXxXxXx**_

"_And you are sure he was in the office?" the man with the evil green eyes asked the blue eyes woman sitting in front of him in the small diner they were having lunch together._

"_Absolutely, yes. I saw him leave. He musta heard me coming back, cause he left the building straight away." the woman replied. _

"_Well... we'll keep an eye on him and see what he's up to. Maybe he's a spy from another company."_

"_Yeah, maybe. But we should find out what he's looking for or if he found it already." another woman with a Spanish accent added, earning an appreciative nod from the man. _

"_We'll take care of him. Whatever he knows he won't be able to share it with anyone."_

_With that the three got up from the table, two of them watching the blue-eyed woman leave the diner._

"_You keep an eye on Halden. I don't trust him... and him snooping around my office isn't helping him getting any trust." the man said to his wife, who nodded in reply._

"_I'll make sure he won't find anything. I'll provide him with an opportunity to try, though. See if he bites."_

"_Oh, he will. He's a charmer, can't resist a beautiful woman, trust me, babe." the man replied, keeping his voice low. "And tomorrow... am gonna take him for a nice, little ride..." he said and an evil grin appeared on his face, making his green eyes look even more evil and mean._

_**xXxXxXxXx**_

The rest of the day went by slowly. Neal made calls over calls, some very successful, some not successful at all. But it wasn't like he was counting scores. He was just doing his job and he was good at it. The rest of the team behaved the same way they did before, but still it felt like he was being watched. A feeling that gave him the creeps because he didn't notice anyone watching him. Yet again, he was certainly working with professionals again, they made sure you didn't know who was watching you. Neal considered waiting to check Liz' desk till the next day, as getting the opportunity to do so was going to be tough. He couldn't stay longer than anyone else – again. So he would need another excuse. Or maybe he could come back later. Neal didn't know that his problem would soon be solved by Elizabeth, but he also didn't know that it was only the first step of a plan to get rid of him. Of course after finding out what he was looking for and who he was working for, if he was a spy of sorts.  
It was the end of a long day for Neal. He picked up his suit jacked which he had hung over his chair and headed to the front desk, where Elizabeth was packing up her things. She noticed him and walked up to him, stopping closely in front of Neal. She held up her hand, a key dangling from her fingers. Neal looked at the beautiful brunette, slightly raising his eyebrows. "Newbies have to clean after their first day of work." she said with a mischievous smile. "You gonna have to stay longer."

"What?" Neal asked, still raising his brows. He had heard what she said, but he wasn't so sure whether it was a joke, or not, but when her face got serious he realized it wasn't a joke.

"You stay and clean after us. Cleaning staff isn't coming today. It's the ritual you know?" she repeated. "You better do it, if you wanna keep your job. Would be a shame to loose you, you've done well today."

"Thanks... just doing my job."  
"Well, cleaning tonight is one of your jobs now."

"Yes ma'am." Neal replied seriously. He got the hint. Yet it provided him the perfect opportunity to check her desk, too. Yet he had to proceed carefully. There was a lot at stake after all.

Neal leaned against the reception desk and watched as everybody else left the office space, Allan Little and Elizabeth leaving last. The two of them glanced at Neal, as he looked up. He felt like their eyes were boring themselves right through him, a feeling that he gladly got rid of by walking into the small storage room behind the reception area. He was surprised to see a vacuum cleaner, broom and other cleaning stuff inside. Usually, he thought, the cleaning staff brought their own stuff with them, but in this case he wasn't so sure if there was a cleaning staff at all. He guessed there never was one, Barry Maloney wouldn't let some cleaning staff into his office, where he kept important documents and things that weren't supposed to be found by anyone but himself or his wife. But then again, why would they let him stay and clean for them tonight? What was their plan? Would they stay and watch him, or what would they do?

"Be sure to lock the office before you leave. And no snooping around, got it?" he heard Liz call out to him, as he grabbed the vacuum cleaner and turned around. Housework... this almost felt like when he was a teenager and had to help out with stuff like that. And he still didn't really like it, but it was part of his job now and a part of life anyway. Unless you were rich and could afford a maid to do all the work for you.

"Got it." he replied, although he didn't sound very happy. Cleaning for others wasn't exactly his favorite task.

"Good." Allan replied, his green eyes still focused in Neal, as if they wanted to stare wholes into his body. It gave him creeps, but he wouldn't show. He simply put his poker face on and started his cleaning job right as Allan and Liz left the office.

Neal started the vacuum cleaner. He figured he might as well clean the open-plan office first before he started snooping around in Allan's office once again. A little more thorough than last time. Maybe he could find something he couldn't find earlier this day, because he didn't have much time to look for anything else. Maybe he could find some evidence now, or even the password to Allan's computer. Although Neal doubted the latter. After vacuuming the open-plan office Neal turned it off and walked into Allan's office with it. He'd clean the office alright, but after he looked around again. He went through a filing cabinet he didn't get to check last time, but he found it empty. Much to his surprise, because he figured some files would be stashed in there, but nothing was inside, which made Neal frown a little. He sat down on the chair in front of the desk and started the computer, looking through the desk as he waited for the computer to be ready to work with. He tried finding anything that could help him crack the password. He went through receipts, letters, some pens and even through a few matchbooks he found, but nothing caught his eyes. Allan wouldn't be that stupid to choose a password written on a matchbook or pencil, would he?  
Neal frowned. There was nothing he could remember from the files that would help him choose a combination to try. This wasn't his game. He could pick just about any lock, but he wasn't a computer guy. How was he supposed to crack a password? Then he saw it. A small sculpture of the Eiffel Tower, standing on a shelf behind him. He got up from the chair and took it in his hands, turning it around to look at it from every direction. But there was nothing written on it that Neal could see. He put the sculpture back where it belonged and sat back down. Eiffel Tower. Maloney had been in France, right? The Eiffel Tower was in Paris, now he needed to know when Maloney had been in Paris and he'd have three different combinations worth trying. Neal's gaze wandered to the wedding picture on the desk, it was taken in front of the Eiffel Tower, as he noticed right now. Neal grabbed the frame and carefully removed the picture from it. If it was an original he'd find a date printed on the back. And he did: June 2003.

Neal put the picture back into the frame and tried the first combination, _paris2003_, but the computer beeped as a result of a wrong password. He tried again. He didn't want some sort of mechanism to start after he typed in the wrong password three times, so this was his last try. _Eiffeltower2003 _was Neal's second try and this time the desktop started to load. A small smirk appeared on his face as he waited a few more seconds before he started looking through whatever he could find on that computer. He found a few references to his company in France and he also found a few financial documents which he downloaded onto the flash drive hidden in his cuff button. But he knew that wasn't the evidence he was looking for, yet it may be helpful.

After finishing his search, Neal shut the computer down again and quickly finished his cleaning before he went back to the storage room and put the vacuum cleaner away. Then he walked back out and checked Elizabeth's computer. Little did he know, that he had unseen eyes watching him snoop around the space. But this time he wouldn't be as lucky with cracking the password. He tried twice, but he came back without being able to find the right password for her computer, so he tried the cabinets, but there were only a few financial files and some customer information. He took a few pictures with his cell phone and then made sure everything was exactly the way Liz had left it, before he walked out the door and locked the office behind him.  
Outside Neal slowly walked down the street and rounded the corner, seeing the van parked between other parking cars. He slowly wandered over and knocked on the door, before he opened it and climbed inside. Ugh, there was that smell again. He hated the van. Although the equipment they had inside was rather fascinating, but still, that smell and the lack of daylight and fresh air, that was nothing for Neal Caffrey. At least he wasn't the only one hating that van. Peter and Diana were inside, talking to each other, when Neal entered the van. Neal took off his cuff buttons and handed them to Peter.

"Whatever is on that flash drive was all I managed to find. I didn't find any bank activities saved on the computer in Maloney's office, but I saved some financial records... I couldn't get onto Liz's computer though. Couldn't crack the password." Neal said as he watched Peter taking the cuff buttons from his hands.

"Still better than nothing, Neal." Peter told him. "Maybe you'll get your chance tomorrow."

"I dunno."

"What does that mean?"

"I dunno." Neal replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "After lunch break was over today, I had the feeling that they were on to something, they were watching me carefully. They didn't do that before."

"Think they suspect something? Did anyone see you do something you shouldn't have done?"

"I didn't see anyone watching me in the office before I left for lunch, but I did hear something outside that may have been the front door being closed quietly. I don't know if someone saw me inside Barry's office when I shouldn't have been there. Maybe they're just more cautious now. After all, they weren't looking at me when I looked at them."

"Well, no matter if they suspect something or not, you have to be careful up there tomorrow. Maybe you should lay low for a few days, just do your job, use your charm and see where it gets you."

"Yeah. I'll try that." Neal replied with a slight now. "By the way, looks like Elizabeth's pregnant."

"One more reason to catch them and make sure they don't raise another criminal." Peter said seriously. "Go home and get some rest, we'll talk tomorrow."

"Alright." Neal replied, nodding a little, before he left the van. He was happy to leave that vehicle and go home to his wonderful apartment and enjoy the view with a glass of wine.

* * *

_**THANK YOU for taking the time to read this chapter! :) Please take the time to leave me a review, too. It means a lot to me knowing what you guys think!  
blackrose538**_


	4. Revealing the Truth

**_Okay... reviews have been a little small for the last chapter... sorry if I bored you guys, but some details have to be put into a story, it can't always be action, right? Anyway, I truly hope I did not bore you away. So... here we go with Chapter 4. Now that we all survived the end of the world and it's one day before Christmas...  
ENJOY! And please... do review? I really want to know what ya'll think! :)  
_**

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**Chapter 04: Revealing the Truth**

Neal stood on his patio, a glass of wine in his hand and looked over the busy nightlife of New York. He enjoyed the view and the time he had for himself. He was actually glad to only hear soft sounds of traffic reaching his ears after his day at the office. It had been exhausting to always be on the phone with someone and only having a few minutes of 'silence' when he would step out onto the balcony with his cup of coffee. The view from the balcony was nice, but Neal was always glad to be home at June's house and enjoy the view he had there. Tonight, he was all by himself. Mozzie seemed to be busy, not that he minded, though. From time to time he liked a bit of quietness around him. He took a small sip of his wine and let his thoughts return to his day at the office. He had a strange feeling about the ending of his day. It seemed strange that they should have a silly ritual like letting their new employees clean the office for them. What sense did that make? Otherwise if someone had seen him snooping around Barry's office and had told him about it and they suspected him to be a spy, that might have been a test of sorts, or maybe their way of saying there was nothing to be found in the office. Neal sighed a little as he thought about that and he began to wonder if Maloney really was as ruthless as they said he was, if he really killed people who crossed him or tried to. The sound of his phone ringing on the dining table inside his apartment pulled him out of his thoughts. He took a deep breath of the cool night air and walked back inside. It was then that he realized just how cold he actually was. He closed the patio doors behind him and picked up the phone. Looking at the ID he frowned a little. The caller was unknown with a suppressed number.

"Hello?" he asked when he answered his phone.

"Nick?" he heard Allan's voice on the other end. "It's Allan."

"Hey. What's up?"

"A little change of plans for you tomorrow. I want you to meet me outside the office at noon. You're off work tomorrow morning."

"Okay... something going on?" Neal asked, frowning a little. He wasn't sure how he should take this change of plan.

"Nothing for you to worry about, Nick. I just want to take you for a little ride and show you something."

That was never a good sign. Neal was on alert as he listened to Allan, unsure how to react. He had a frown tugged to his face, thinking about a smart reply. "Wow. To what do I owe that honor?"

"Well, Nick... you're a respected man in certain circles... it's time I got to know you a little better, don't you think?"

"Depends." Neal replied carefully.

"Depends on what?"

"Depends on your meaning of getting to know me. That phrase has different meanings to me."

"I can assure that you don't need to worry about anything. Just a friendly meeting to chat and see if you're man enough for a more... delicate job." Allan explained, trying to wrap the suspicious man's mind around the idea that everything was okay and this was just a social call. "You won't end up on the bottom of the Hudson, if you were thinking that."

"No..." Neal replied with a small chuckle, acting as innocent as he could. "Of course not. Why would I think that?"

"Who knows. So, tomorrow at noon. Don't be late. I hate it when people are late."

"I won't be."

"Good." Allan said satisfied and hung up.

Neal stared at his phone for several minutes, his mind playing back each second of this conversation. Usually when a criminal took another criminal for a ride to 'show him something' it meant that they were onto you, or had something else in mind for you. It usually wasn't a social call. And it wasn't friendly at all. Neal was suspicious, but in order to keep his cover up he had to go along with it, but he was smart. He had to play it smart in order to get what he needed. The first thing that came to his mind however, was that he had to call Peter. He had to let him know about the change of plans as from what Mozzie told him, he figured it may get dangerous for himself and he didn't want to go inside a situation like this without having a backup plan. Plus Peter didn't like when Neal didn't keep him informed. If it was out of honest concern or simply out of the fact that he was responsible for whatever happened to Neal, he didn't know. Sometimes he figured it was a bit of both. Still thinking about what Little said now and what he said when they first met, Neal dialed Peter's cell phone number. He picked up after the third ring.

"Neal? What's up?" he asked a slight hint of concern in the agent's voice.

"Change of plans. Little just called. I'm not going to the office to work tomorrow morning. I'm meeting him outside at noon instead." Neal said, a serious tone to his usually warm and calm voice.

"You sound worried..."

"I'm not quite sure what to think about this, Peter..." Neal said, remembering the first conversation he had with Little. "He said it was 'time to get to know me' but when we first met he said the less others know about you the better... I think he's up to something."

"It sounds like he may suspect something." Peter agreed to Neal. Then it went silent between them for a few seconds. "Since you're meeting him at noon, we'll meet at the bureau in the morning and set you up properly. We need a plan for this one. I'll pick you up on my way to the bureau."

"I couldn't agree more. I'll see you in the morning then." Neal said. He felt a little better now after sharing his thoughts about this strange idea of Allan's. "Say hi to Elizabeth."

"Okay, I will. Get some sleep, Neal."

"Now you sound worried."

A small chuckle was heard on the other side. Peter had sounded almost fatherly concerned, something that Neal had seen and heard on him before, but only once or twice. And maybe he even liked it, since he had no father around all his life. Maybe that was why Peter was the only one he trusted, truly trusted. "Maybe I am. See you tomorrow, Neal."

"See ya."

Neal smirked a little as he put his phone back onto his dining table and looked at the almost emptied glass of wine. He sighed a bit, before he picked it up and drank the last few sips of it, then put the glass into the sink and went to take a shower. He was going to call it a night. He may need all the rest he could get and the day at the company's office had worn him out. He wasn't used to that kind of work, but he wasn't going to complain either. He was just going to deal with the consequences, which in this case, was going to bed earlier than usual.

_**xXxXxXxXx**_

Because Neal had gone to bed earlier than usual and fell asleep almost immediately as his head hit the pillow, he was up early the next morning. He felt well rested, which was a nice feeling. He was already fully dressed, sitting at his dining table, letting the cold morning air into his apartment through the patio doors and sipping his usual morning coffee, while he was reading the newspaper. He set the paper down on his dining table and grabbed his phone, which lay right next to his cup of coffee and took a glance at the clock. 7:44 AM, Peter should be here any minute now to pick him up, like he said last night on the phone. Neal took his mug with his right hand and slowly finished off his coffee, his thoughts drifting off to the phone call from Allan Little aka Barry Maloney last night. He began to wonder once again, what this was all about. He knew for sure that he had to stay alert at all times as soon as he met with him later today. Then again, he always was alert when he met with someone, he needed to be and he had learned to be for a very long time. Being a con-artist and working with other cons made you stay on alert at all times if you didn't want to end up double crossed.

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. Peter. Who else could it possibly be, right? Neal drank the last sip of his Italian Roast coffee and then stuffed his phone into his pocket. "Comin." he called out as he put his suit jacket on and then took his hat and put it on, too. He took a quick glance at himself in the mirror and smiled slightly before he went to the door and opened it, greeting Agent Peter Burke with his usual cheerful smile. "Morning."

"Well, you look happy." Peter said in reply, but even he had a small smile on his face once he's seen Neal was as cheerful as usual.

"It only seems like it."

"Oh really?" Peter arched his brows in question.

"Yeah, don't you see it?"

"I see a sunny smile."

"Someone's gotta bring the sun into the gray city." Neal countered seriously, but he hid a grin on his face.

Peter rolled his eyes at the young man and then playfully shook his head. Sometimes Neal seemed more like a little boy than an adult, but he couldn't deny that he actually liked that about him. Well, at least sometimes, although he'd never admit that to anyone, especially not to Neal. He'd never stop if he did. "C'mon, let's get going, Mr. Sunny-Smile."

And with that both men left Neal's apartment and June's house to leave for the FBI office, where they would meet with the rest of the team and discuss how they were going to handle the change of plans Neal told Peter about yesterday. Of course both Peter and Neal already knew how it was going to be handled without even talking about it, but they still had to inform the team about it, since they didn't know all about the call, yet, just that they didn't have to be at the stakeout this morning. But they learned about it the moment they walked into the office and Peter called his team to the conference room.

"So... we follow them with the van? In a save distance of course." Jones suggested once they heard what exactly the change of plans was.

"That's the plan." Peter replied with a nod to Jones. "However we need to figure out a codeword."

"How about rainy day?" Neal suggested. "That's easy to get into a sentence if there's a situation I need you guy in."

Peter, Diana and Jones thought about his suggestion and figured that was okay, since none of them had a better idea at that point and rainy day always seemed to work. "Alright, rainy day. But don't push it too far. The first sign of danger for you and you say it."

"Don't worry about it. I'll be fine. Just make sure you hear me this time." Neal countered, remembering the undercover job he had as "Mr. Black" where he was send out to kill Sara Ellis. He didn't need to repeat that experience anytime soon. Neal didn't mean for it to sound like he was still mad about that, but the look Peter gave him, made Neal look up at him, his hands held up in defense, while he pulled his shoulders up a little. "I'm just saying."

"Yeah... So, we'll have to keep our distance with the van. It's easy to spot, we'll probably be a block behind you." Peter went on with the planning, ignoring Neal's comment. "Any idea where you're going?"

"Nope. He said he'd take me for a ride to show me something. That was all. But if he's planning on getting rid of me... he could take me anywhere secluded around the city."

"We'll stick close. You've got nothing to worry about." Peter said, looking into Neal's eyes as the younger man looked up at him. His bright blue eyes looked content, there was no sign of worry in them in that moment, but there was trust in those blue orbs.

"I know." he said confidently as always.

_**xXxXxXxXx**_

Ten minutes before noon Neal stood in front of the office building where he was supposed to meet the allegedly Mr. Allan Little for the ride he wanted to take Nick Halden on. Not really knowing what to expect, Neal was a slight bit uncomfortable, but being the con-artist and expert he was, he knew exactly how to hide it: behind his usual sunny façade. He would simply act like he had not the slightest doubt about the friendliness of Mr. Little, act like he didn't know anything might be wrong. Just like someone not knowing who Allan Little really was. He figured that was the best way to deal with it for now, for as long as he didn't know what Little may know about him.  
Neal and Peter had checked the watch before Neal had walked up the block to the office building, making sure it worked perfectly fine. He looked down the street and spotted the van parked at the corner at the end of the block. Ten minutes... Neal never realized how long ten minutes could be when you were waiting for something or someone. But the time would pass eventually and until then, he acted as calm as he could be, watching people passing by. Five minutes later, which felt like ten, he saw Allan Little exiting the building and walking up to him, after he saw Neal standing a few feet away from the entrance. The tall older man looked very serious and his green eyes were even more penetrating that he remembered them to be. But that look was all it took for Neal to be even more on alert. It was a look that indicated that wasn't going to be a friendly trip at all, even though Little had made it sound like that the other night.

"Nick." he said sharply, maybe a little too sharp, because the tone of his voice literally gave Neal the creeps.

"Allan." Neal replied, trying to give his voice a slightly cheerful note, just to see how that would work.

"Always gleeful, huh. C'mon, walk with me." Little replied still seriously, the look on his face not changing a bit, but his tone wasn't as chilly and bossy anymore, but still bossy enough.

Neal quickly followed Allan Little around the building to the parking space where Little led him to black Range Rover TDV6, which had toned windows in the back. Little unlocked the car, walking up to the driver's sear. He told Neal to get in before he got into the car himself. Most of the interior was in a beige color, the steering wheel was covered with black leather, whereas the car had beige-colored leather seats and mahogany colored decorations on the dash panel. Neal let out a small whistle as he sat on the leather seat on the passenger's side of the car and closed the door. He had no idea that his soft whistle created something like a smile on Little's face. Neal didn't even know how much Little loved cars, especially big ones. This made his plans for Neal a little harder to pursue.

"It's a beauty, huh?" Little commented in a tone that Neal hadn't heard on him before. It was almost loving.

"Oh yeah. A bit too luxury for my taste, but definitely impressive."

"Well, some only see a car as a way of transportation." Little explained as he maneuvered the car into the traffic. "But for me it has to me more than that. Sometimes I spend many hours driving around from state to state, then this luxury comes in quite handy."

Neal nodded a little in reply. He realized that cars was a topic to get Allan Little talking. It seemed to be some kind of hobby for the man next to him, not that Neal would've ever guessed that, but he tried using it for his advantage, to keep him talking. It would definitely make the ride more comfortable and less awkward. Not that he was an expert on cars though, he was only an expert on art, but he may know his fair share about anything. While pondering his reply, Neal was surprised that the FBI hadn't figured this out already. They had a lot on Maloney, but nothing that indicated a love for cars. But maybe that was the cover for Allan Little and not the real Barry Maloney talking? Neal shrugged a little, in that moment, he didn't really care.

"So you love cars?" he asked, sounding interested.

"You can say that." was the short reply. The tone in the older man's voice had really changed, but yet Neal was aware of the fact that this could change again within a second. "Although I may not call it love. It's more of a... hobby if you will."

"Kinda like the cliché... women have shoes and clothes and men have their cars."

"And sports." Little countered, even letting a small chuckle escape his lips. "What's your hobby Nick?"

"Art." Neal replied without even thinking about it.

"Art? That's interesting." Little replied, glancing at the younger man next to him, his green eyes now once again boring themselves into Neal. He didn't look at Allan, but he could feel it. "There was that... art-thief I've read about a while ago... what was his name? Neal Caffrey?"

Neal swallowed hard when he heard his own name being mentioned. He could feel Allan's eyes on him once again and he had to keep his poker face. Who knew what Little had planned with that anyway. "I've heard of him." Neal replied, trying to sound as casually as possible.

"You look a lot a like him, if I may say that."

"Heard that before... he's an admirable man. Very talented it seems and quite the art-lover himself, from what I've heard and read." Honestly, Neal felt a little strange talking like that about himself. He never really had to do it that way before and he had to admit it felt a little weird.

Little pulled the car into a quiet street and stopped in front of a house that seemed to be abandoned for quite some time. He shut down the engine and mentioned for Neal to get out of the car, before he got out himself. After Neal was out of the car and closed the door, he locked it and walked up to the house. Neal frowned a little, glancing at the old building, wondering what they were doing here. This house looked like it could use a little renovation and lots of restoration, too. He glanced at Little, slightly raising his brows.

"Ever lived in an old house like this?" Little asked him, stopping to look at the old building, while Neal shook his head.

"Nope."

"Could be yours. With the money you brought us yesterday... keep it up for a week and you could buy this."

"That's why we came here?"

"Sure. We'll take a look a inside. After all, I might just buy it for you... as a little welcome gift, if you will." Little said, but his voice now had a cold note to it. "C'mon. Go ahead."

Neal looked at the man before, whose green eyes looked anything but friendly. His blue eyes held uncertainty as to whether or not it was a good idea to actually go into that building and in front of Little. But he knew that Peter, Jones and Diana were nearby and they heard everything that was said. Not that he liked being lured into a trap, obviously, but knowing Peter was there to move in as soon as Neal told him to, made it at least a little easier. He wouldn't have to endure danger for too long. If danger lay ahead. Since Little's green eyes always had that evil glare to them, it was hard to interpret when that glare meant trouble or when it was just his usual look at others. Neal wondered if he looked like that at his wife, too.  
Taking a deep breath and shaking those useless thoughts away for now, Neal turned his back on Little, yet his ears listening for any sound that indicated danger from behind, as he walked up to the house, finding the door unlocked. It surprised Neal, made him even more suspicious, but Little had probably been to this house before. When Neal stepped into the old building the smell of dust and moisture hit his nose. Only little light shone through the dirty old windows, but it was enough to see the dust wafting through the air. Looking down onto the wooden floor, he could spot footsteps in the thick layer of dust. Although this house seemed to be abandoned for a long time, someone definitely had been there before and from what the imprints in the dust looked like it wasn't that long ago.  
The main door, through which they entered the house, led into a rather expanded entrance hall. To Neal's left was a door that was left ajar. Neal could glance through the slit and noticed that there was a small bathroom behind that door. To his right was another door, that was fully opened and led to the kitchen. Right next to the kitchen door were the stairs that led to the basement and those that let upstairs. Ahead of him was an arch that gave view into the main living area of the old house. Neal glanced up, seeing the beautiful french stucco ceiling. It was indeed a beautiful home, Little got that one right.

"Downstairs." Little's cold and serious voice pulled Neal out of his thoughts, causing a cold shiver to run down the younger man's spine as he took a step towards the stairs. Neal didn't need to turn around and look at Little to know that he had some sort of weapon pointed at him, just in case Neal decided not to comply. The tone in Little's voice was enough to ensure him of that and to give him the final hint he needed to know that this was going to be dangerous. He could have said the word for Peter to move in, but he wanted to see where this was going first. Right now, they basically had nothing on Little. Maybe he could get some information out of him before he'd call in Peter and the team. Little did Neal know then, that his plan was going to go awry pretty fast.  
Neal slowly walked down the stairs into the dark space of the basement. Little turned on a flashlight, so they could see where they were going. He told Neal to walk straight ahead to the end of the corridor and into the room that was right in front of them, at the end of the dark basement hallway. Neal felt his heart rate slightly increasing when he reached for the handle to open the door to the last basement room, like he was told to. The old wooden door creaked when Neal pushed the door open. He took a deep breath, not sure what to expect behind the door, but to his surprise the room was empty. He heard Little's footsteps behind him and entered the room, his heart racing slightly.

"You stay right there where you are." Little told him harshly. The older man closed the door behind them, leaving only a small slit open. He walked across the room, standing in front of the two small basement windows, now being only a silhouette to Neal. He could barely see his face, but he did see that Allan Little indeed held a gun pointed at Neal now. Neal looked around the room, spotting a second door right next to Little. It probably led right out of the house and into the city, maybe the backyard and suddenly Neal got a very bad feeling about this. He hated guns being pointed at him. He hated guns in general.

"Why are we down here?" he asked carefully, still acting like the innocent Nick Halden, not having any idea about anything. "And what's with the gun?"

"Quit this crap, already. You know exactly why we're here." Little replied, his voice now angry and colder than Neal had ever heard it before. "You were in my office yesterday when everybody else was out for lunch. What were you doing in there?"

"_Damn it..." _Neal thought. He was busted, but how? Then he remembered the noise he heard before he left Little's office. _"So there really was someone... this is not good... not good at all. Maybe I still can play stupid... see what he knows."_

"I was what?" Neal asked, slightly raising his brows in disbelief.

Little cocked the gun, unlocking it with his thumb. Although Neal couldn't see it, he could feel those angry green eyes upon him, staring wholes into his body if they were able to. It felt like daggers being thrown at him and he knew his playing dumb card wasn't going to work.

_Outside in the Van Peter sighed heavily, his face was serious, his brown eyes filled with concern for his younger CI. He had known this situation could get dangerous, but he had always hoped it wouldn't come to that. If he had a choice, Neal wouldn't even be in there with Barry Maloney aka Allan Little. He'd be out here in the van and it would be Peter undercover in that basement. The signal wasn't very strong and there was a constant swoosh audible, but they could still hear Neal loud and clear and Little, too. But as Peter listened to the last words being said, his features were filled with worry. He knew Neal's cover was blown. Little was on to him and that was reason enough to worry._

"_He's on to him... get ready to move." Peter said as he listened to what the transmitter was recording for them. Jones and Diana got ready to move, as did Peter. They all were waiting for Neal to say the codeword. _

"I said cut the crap!" Little's angry voice bellowed. "Abby saw you in my office. She came back to get something and she saw you searching my office! So again, what were you doing there?"

"Nothing, seriously. I was just admiring the view." Neal tried again. Maybe he could buy himself some time.

"Liar! I know you cracked my password and checked my computer. You tried Liz's computer, too. I got you on tape!" Little hissed angrily, his eyes were tiny slits, but Neal couldn't see that.

What?! On tape? He didn't see any cameras! Neal knew he had no way out. He had to say the word and get Peter down here now. Trying to buy himself some time obviously didn't work with Barry Maloney. But how could he say the word without making Maloney even more suspicious?

"You know what I think? You were spying for someone. And you know what I do to spies?" Little asked, but it wasn't a question. "I eliminate them... it's shame, really. You brought me a lot of money on your first and only day... but sadly, today will be the last day on earth for you."

There is was! The perfect moment to alarm Peter, who, unknown to Neal, was already on his way out of the van when he heard his next line. "Too bad it's not rainy day."

"What?" Little asked, now sounding slightly confused, his brows raised, which, again, Neal couldn't see.

"I said, too bad it's not a rainy day."

"I head what you said. Why would you say that to someone who's planning to kill you?"

"Well, because no matter what I say, you're going to pull that trigger." Neal replied, sounding surprisingly calm for someone threatened to be killed. "If it was rainy day then at least something would fit the mood."

Little was about to say something when a faint noise was heard from upstairs. He froze on the spot and listened. Neal had heard it too and knew Peter was there. It was going to be over any minute. But then fate took another turn.  
Neal could hear the steps on the old stairs as the FBI team slowly moved down the stairs and he knew it were only a few feet to the room he was in with Little. Looking at the silhouette of the man with the gun, he saw that he had the gun pointed at the wall between Neal and the door. Neal didn't need to think twice to know that as soon as the door would open, he'd pull the trigger and shoot whoever was going to come through. He had to do something, but what? The gun pointed at the door, or at him, left him with no choice but stay put and quiet. Neal stood near the wall close to the door that led into the hallway of the basement. Barry Maloney stood opposite him, facing the door, ready to shoot whoever was going to enter this room, no questions asked. Neal had to do something, he had to protect the life of whoever Peter would let enter this room first. Maybe it was Peter himself. He had to protect him. But how? If he made a sound to warn him, he'd get shot. If he tried attacking the older man with the gun, he'd get shot, too. If he tried leaving the room... same thing. So whatever he did, he'd end up with a bullet somewhere in his body, probably his head. So he stayed quiet, not that he liked it. They have had such a lovely conversation before and he loved a good conversation.  
The door slowly opened, but because the room was only lit by a bit of sunlight shining through the small dirty window of the basement room, whoever entered the room, wouldn't be able to see the person pointing a gun at the door. In fact, even he was barely able to make out a silhouette of the gunman. But he could see the door slowly opening and he could almost hear Maloney slowly pulling the trigger. A ray of light from the now lit hallway shone into the room and now he could see it. He was pulling the trigger.  
He jumped, from his site of the wall, across the door at the same time the bullet left it's chamber, slamming the door shut and then crashing down onto the cold, hard concrete. Before the door was slammed open again, the gunman disappeared through the second door, leading to the outer stairwell that led him right to freedom. He was gone. For now. A bunch of FBI Agents stormed into the room, quickly scanning it, before pursuing through the now open door that lead outside, only one stayed behind.

"Neal!"

* * *

_**It was a long chapter, I know... anyway, I hope you liked it and thanks so much for reading! Please take a minute or two to leave a review for this chapter and let me know what you think! :)  
**_

**_I'll be back with a new chapter next week, if I manage to finish it until then. For now, I wish all my readers a MERRY CHRISTMAS! :) I hope you'll have a great time with your friends and family :)_**

**_blackrose538_**


	5. Fear, Hope and Trust

**_Hello my dear readers! I am back with the new and final chapter for this story.  
First of all I want to thank everyone for their lovely reviews! You guys certainly made my day and made me smile with each review you posted. It means so much to me. Writing this story has been an amazing experience and it was so much fun to finally be back in the writing business. So I've decided to keep writing for White Collar. I have some more ideas stored and waiting to be worked on, so that will be the plan for the new year, as much as my studies give me time to write of course._**

_**Now ENJOY the last chapter and don't forget to review! :)**_

**A/N:_ this chapter contains a quote from 4.05 Honor Among Thieves. I still don't own WC characters but I do own Dr. Alexandra Durant. ;-)_**

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**Chapter 05: Fear, Hope and Trust**

"_Neal!" Peter called out, seeing his friend on the floor by the door._

A throbbing pain went through his body, making it impossible for him to breathe. He tried to take a deep breath, but he couldn't. It felt like a rope was being pulled tightly around his chest, cutting his breath off. Fear filled his ocean blue eyes and his mind. He barely managed to push himself up a little, so he was lying on his right side. He felt a warm, sticky liquid slowly seeping down his chest, the throbbing pain was now located on the left side of his chest. His right hand moved up to where the warm spot and he felt the liquid slowly soaking his white button-down shirt. Blood. Finally Neal was able to breathe in, but as soon as he did his lungs were on fire. The left side of his lungs, to be exact. He started to cough, as he heard Peter call out his name. He moved his head a little and fixed his eyes onto the agent crouching down in front of him, panic starting to show in his blue eyes. He was still short on breath and having trouble to breathe properly.  
Peter saw that blood was seeping though Neal's fingers, painting his once white shirt in a dark shade of red. Worried filled his usually warm brown eyes, as he reached for the phone in his pocket. He didn't need to ask, he knew Neal was hit and hurt badly. The young man tried to say something but the moment he breathed in for air to do so, he started to cough again, this time with with a few small droplets of blood. His breathing started to increase, out of panic, but after bursting into another coughing fit, he forced himself to slow down. Peter, on the phone with the 911-responder, got out of his FBI jacket and started to scrunch it up into a tight ball. He told the young woman on the phone what had happened, how Neal was and that he needed an ambulance right away, then he hung up to do as much for Neal as he could, starting with slowly pulling Neal around, so the young man came to lie on his back and removing his hand from the gunshot wound, pressing his scrunched up FBI jacket onto the wound. Peter watched, as Neal's pain-filled blue eyes looked up at him. He coughed again, a few drops of blood hitting Peter. But the older man didn't care. All he could think about was trying to safe his friend's life.

"Sorry... 'bout that." Neal managed to in a mere whisper, not wanting to take any deep breaths. He was short on breath, but it was enough to say a few words.

"Don't worry about it, Neal." Peter replied as calmly as he could. "Just breathe slow and steady... and don't you dare closing your eyes, no matter what."

Neal gave a small nod in reply. He would try to do as he was told. He looked up into Peter's brown eyes and it was like he knew exactly what he was thinking in that moment. Peter was thinking that this should never have happened and that he should never have agreed on letting Neal go undercover like this. He should have known better and he should have been there to protect Neal. Neal wasn't supposed to get hurt, that was his job. But now that it happened, he would make sure that Maloney paid for his crimes and he would do anything to safe Neal's life. It was partly his fault that Neal was hurt anyway.

"Not your fault... Peter." he said, against the advice of shutting up to safe his energy.

"Yes it is... I should've known better." Peter replied seriously, but when Neal looked at him just as serious as he did and took a deep breath only to end up in a coughing fit, the look in Peter's eyes softened. "You weren't supposed to get hurt, Neal."

"Never... goes as... planned." he replied between small coughs.

"Stop talking. Just focus on me and stay awake."

Neal simply nodded, his coughing subsided slowly. He tried to focus on Peter. However the blood loss and the pain from the gunshot wound combined with the shortness of breath and his frequent coughing fits were taking their toll on the young CI. His blood pressure slowly started to drop, which made him weak and tired. His eyelids grew heavy, like lead weights were pulling them down. He began to blink, drifting away. He started feeling a little dizzy and his vision started to become blurry. He heard how Jones and Diana came back into the room, he heard their voices, but he was too tired to move his head. He tried to focus on what was being said, fighting the dizziness as long as he possibly could.

"He's gone. We lost him in the traffic about a minute ago. But an APB is out." Jones said to Peter, a worried look on his face as he looked at Neal. He didn't need to ask to know that he was injured. Neal could hear Peter curse under his breath. He blinked a few times, trying to stay awake. "How's Caffrey?" Neal heard Diana's voice.

"Not good." Peter said, looking down at the young man, concern filling his brown eyes. "C'mon Neal. Stay with me!"

Neal tried. He heard how Jones or Diana said something, but he couldn't understand what it was anymore. He was getting so tired. So weak and tired, his eyelids felt like lead weight. It was hard to keep them open. His breathing had slowed down, his blood pressure sunk and he was just feeling weak. Not to mention that the space around began to spin. He wanted to go to sleep so desperately, but the gentle slaps on his cheeks managed to pull him back a few times. He tried to focus his ocean blue eyes on Peter, who was talking to him, but Neal didn't listen anymore. He just wanted to close his eyes and rest, although he was afraid that if he closed his eyes now he wasn't going to wake up again. "C'mon buddy. You can do it! Just a few more minutes!" Peter called out to him, trying to keep Neal conscious. But a few seconds later his world went black.

"NEAL!" Peter called out, but it didn't work. "Dammit!"

_**xXxXxXxXx**_

Peter was restlessly pacing the waiting room in New York-Presbyterian University Hospital, where they had taken Neal to. He was rushed into surgery immediately after his blood pressure had dropped even more on the way from the house to the hospital. Neal had slipped in and out of consciousness, coughing drops of blood whenever he was awake and slipping back into oblivion when he had no energy left to cough. At some point the paramedics had put him onto an endotracheal tube ET, to help him breathe as well as on an IV tube.  
After Jones and Diana had insisted that he should go with Neal to the hospital and they would finish up on the scene as well as keeping him in the loop, Peter had insisted that he rode in the ambulance with his CI. He was his partner and friend after all. Promising to stay out of the way, Peter had sat on the bench next to the stretcher, holding onto Neal's hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze when he'd see those panic-filled blue eyes look at him. He had told Neal that he was going to be okay over and over again. And somehow it seemed like Neal had believed him. There was that look of trust in the younger man's eyes. Under different circumstances Peter would've been thrilled to see that look given to him. But this was different. The situation was different and yet he proved to Neal that he'd take care of him, he would never leave him behind. Ever. Still, for Peter it felt like he had failed Neal. He had failed to protect him from being hurt, although Neal told him it wasn't his fault. Peter didn't know yet, that Neal probably saved his life.

"Hon!" Peter heard Elizabeth's voice behind him. He turned around and saw his wife rushing up to him. He had called her when they reached the ER and Peter was told to wait here. He was glad to hear her voice and to see her. Elizabeth spotted drops of blood on Peter's shirt and neck and frowned.

"I'm okay, hon." Peter told her, before she wrapped her arms around her husband. He held her tight, glad she was here with him now.

"How is he?" El asked, pulling back a little to look into her husband's eyes. Her blue eyes were filled with concern.

"I dunno, El. They took him to surgery right away." Peter replied, concern and a hint of guilt evident in his voice. He turned his head to the right and looked away. "This should never have happened..."

He heard Elizabeth sigh and gently tough his face, forcing his brown eyes back onto hers. "Don't blame yourself, hon. I'm sure he's going to be just fine." she said in a reassuring tone. He admired that strength of her. She was always able to make him feel better, no matter how bad the situation was.

"I know... he'll bounce back. But..."

"Uh, uh. No buts, honey."

Peter tried to say something again, but Elizabeth gave him a look that told him he better not be arguing with her right now, so he shut up and just sighed heavily. The only time he remembered Neal being hurt like this was on Cape Verde, when he was shot by Collins, although it didn't put him into a hospital bed, with his life at stake. And then there was the time he ended up drugged, but that had been in a hospital, trying to play Jimmy Burger and he wasn't actually in pain, besides the headache afterward. Back then he had been worried about Neal, too, not knowing what they would do to him, when he was caught in that clinic. He had received the same look of trust and even Neal saying he was the only one he trusted back then and it had meant a lot to him, it still did. Peter remembered that case where Neal was blackmailed to steal a piece of Art in exchange for data about Kate's death. Peter had been angry at Neal in the beginning, but after he told him what had happened, he understood. And the one thing he said when he was asked why he didn't take the flash drive was burned into Peter's brain.

"_I said the price was too high and I meant it. Your trust is too important to me."_

"Agent Burke?" another female voice came from behind where the reception desk and the hallway to the operating rooms were. Peter turned around and saw a relatively young surgeon standing nearby looking at them. The beautiful blond woman still wore her blue scrubs and the mask was still around her neck. She was about 5 feet 7 tall and had her blond hair bound back in a ponytail. Her warm brown eyes were scanning the waiting area, settling upon Peter as he looked up.

"That's me." Peter said, taking a few steps closer to the doctor.

"I'm Doctor Alexandra Durant. I was told you came with Mr. Caffrey." the young surgeon said, extending her hand. Peter shook her hand, looking into her beautiful hazel brown eyes, giving her a nod in reply.  
"How's he?"

"Well, considering the blood loss and damage the bullet did to his left lung, he's doing okay. We were able to stabilize him and repair most of the damage to his lung. But he's not out of the woods, yet, first 24 hours are most critical."

"What about the bullet?"

"It was a .22 caliber hollow point." Dr. Durant replied, holding a small plastic jar up to Peter. "I saved this for you. Figured you might want to run some tests with it, although I doubt it'll be of any help."

"Probably not. But thank you anyway, Doctor."

"You're welcome. The bullet did some minor damage to his sixth rib while penetrating, but that will heal in no time. He'll be sore, though."

"Can we see him?" Elizabeth piped up, now standing next to her husband. She had been listening until now, but the question was burning inside her mind.

"Mr. Caffrey is set up in a room in the ICU as we speak." the blond surgeon replied, her warm brown eyes looking at the dark-haired woman before her. "I'll take you to him, just let me get out of my scrubs."

"That would be great. Thanks." Peter replied with a small thankful nod.  
Through the eyes of an amateur it seemed like Neal was going to be fine in no time, but both Peter and Elizabeth knew that he wasn't out of the woods, yet. The first 24 hours were significant. Anything could happen. But they both hoped that there won't be any complications and that he would be okay soon. Peter knew Neal was strong, he was a fighter, he wouldn't just give up on everything he had here. He had just gotten him back from Cape Verde and he wasn't ready to loose Neal again. Pain in the ass or not, trust issues or not, Neal was his friend and although he would never admit it, when he disappeared the day his sentence was supposed to be reduced, Peter missed having his input on the team. He even missed that annoying hat thing. Peter took his wife's hand in his and let out a heavy sigh as he watched Doctor Durant disappear.

"He'll be fine, hon." she said softly and kissed his cheek. Her beautiful blue eyes were filled with concern, though. She was worried about Neal, but deep down she hoped he was going to be just fine.

"I know."

Within five minutes Alexandra Durant was back and on her way to take the Burkes to the ICU. She now wore a pair of navy blue jeans, a purple short-sleeved top and her white coat on top. Her hair, of course, was still in a ponytail. Her dark brown eyes quickly scanned the room, spotting Peter and Elizabeth right where they have been waiting before and walked over to them. They saw Alexandra coming and got up from their seats again, meeting the young surgeon halfway and then were led out of the waiting area and into the corridor that led to the ICU of the hospital. Once there, Dr. Durant walked the Burkes almost all the way down the hall and then stopped in front of a room near the end of the corridor. It was room 10. A window was right next to the door on the wall, facing the corridor. Through the partly closed blinds, Elizabeth and Peter could see Neal in his bed. He was tugged under a light blanket, attached to an IV for fluids and pain medication and a ventilator to help him breathe. Another tube was coming from his chest which was attached to a suction device, used to evacuate air, residual blood or body fluids from the chest cavity. His skin was pale, his eyes were closed, but his chest was slowly sinking and raising. He looked peaceful, lying there and yet miserable. Strands of his dark hair had fallen onto his forehead. Without all the tubes and the sounds from the heart rate monitor and the ventilator, he would've looked like he was sleeping, which wasn't that wrong.

"For now he's fine. His vitals look very good. If nothing else happens he'll be up soon." Alexandra Durant said after they entered the room and she took a look at all the machines and the chart. It was only about twenty minutes that he had been taken from the OR to his room in the ICU.

_**xXxXxXxXx**_

Peter had been sitting at Neal bedside for about two hours after he was taken to the room in the ICU. Nothing had changed so far and Peter was starting to get a little impatient. Dr. Durant had said that Neal would be awake soon, but he still hadn't made the slightest movement. It was bugging Peter, because he had so many questions as to what happened inside the house that had Neal almost killed. And he wanted to know that his charming, blue-eyed CI was okay. Elizabeth had to leave for work again, having a big event that night and so Peter was by his side. Mozzie had called earlier and said he'd drop by later that day.  
"Come on, Neal." Peter said quietly, looking at his younger friend, his hand coming to rest on his shoulder. "Wake up."

He gave Neal's shoulder a gentle squeeze, not really knowing why. Maybe he was hoping that Neal would notice and finally wake up again. But the young man didn't move. It frustrating and raising his concern at the same time. What if he slipped into a coma? What if he never woke up again? Peter quickly shook his head, not wanting to dwell on any 'what-ifs' right now. Neal would make it and he would be awake any time now. That was the thought he wanted to dwell on. Peter considered going back to the office and see what the team found, but then again, he didn't want Neal to wake up and find himself all alone in a cold, white hospital room. He wanted to be there when he opened his eyes.  
And there is was. A flutter of his eyelids, or was it not? Peter kept his eyes focused on Neal's. And there it was again, another flutter. He could see his eyes darting around under the lids, although they were still closed. That went on for a couple of minutes that seemed like a small eternity to Peter, before Neal finally opened his eyes. The light inside this room was blinding him, so he blinked a few times, but when Neal finally looked around and then settled his eyes on the older agent now standing by his bedside, Peter was never happier to see those beautiful blue eyes of his consultant rest upon him than in that very moment. It was like those blue eyes of Neal's were trying to say that everything was going to be okay now, although he was still not really there. Neal was still in the process of waking up and realizing what happened. But the first thing Peter noticed was Neal's hand reaching for the ventilator tube, but before he could do anything, Peter's hand rested upon Neal's, stopping the younger man's actions.

"Hold on, Neal. I'm gonna get someone helping you outta this." Peter said and then reached out to the call button, that would alert a nurse. But before he could even reach it, there was a soft knock on the door and Dr. Durant entered the room.

"Our patient woke up, I see." the beautiful blonde surgeon said, walking up to Neal's bed. If he could have, she would've been greeted by one of Neal's charming smiles. Or he would've tried. But Neal was, first of all, attached to that ventilator that made smiling impossible and, secondly, still too tired and worn out to even think about smiling.

"Just a moment ago." Peter replied with a nod. "Was about to call a nurse. Seems like he wants off that ventilator."

"Yeah, I bet he wants that, but we can't just remove the tube. I'll have to see how his own breathing is doing before I can remove it." Dr. Durant explained. "Mr. Caffrey?"

Neal's blue eyes now rested on the doctor, he looked up in question after she spoke to him. He wasn't able to speak, but he could still use his eyes to communicate. At least for some communication.

"I'll start the process of weaning, which means you'll stay on the ventilator but will be given the chance to breathe on your own. I'll monitor your progress. If everything goes well, you'll be off the ventilator soon."

Neal gave a small nod in reply, his eyes now darting back and forth between Peter and the doctor. He had no choice, he understood how this was working and he knew it was going to take some time to get that annoying tube out of his mouth. Neal watched as Dr. Durant went over to the breathing machine and changed the settings. He was still tired and Peter, who was watching him, could see that. No wonder, with the cocktail of medication he was given, that would knock everyone out. Pain killers, antibiotics to avoid pneumonia and a mild sedative to keep Neal sleepy, so he wouldn't breathe against the ventilator too much. Neal felt Peter's hand on his shoulder and moved his head a little, his blue eyes locking with Peter's brown ones, seeing the concern in them, but also taking comfort in them.

"You'll be fine, Neal." Peter said to him and he believed him. Why not? He woke up, what else could happen now, right?"

Dr. Durant watched them, before she checked his monitors and nodded a little. "I can agree to that. Everything looks just fine." she said. "If you need anything, push the call button. I'll come back in two hours to see how he's doing before I head home."

"Thank you, doctor." Peter said with a small nod to her.

Neal watched the two of them, but he wasn't as focused on everything as he was before. In fact, he once again found himself fighting the urge to close his eyes. He was tired, but he had so many questions. He watched Alexandra Durant leave the room and then looked back at Peter, who now sat on the chair next to his bed again. He wanted to stay awake, but his eyelids grew heavier with each passing minute and eventually Neal gave in. He closed his eyes again, drifting off to the dark realm of dreamless sleep.

By the time Neal woke up again, he found the ventilator tube had been removed and he was now steadily breathing on his own, only a nasal oxygen cannula was left to make sure he was getting enough of the important gas. A pulse oximeter was clipped onto his left index finger, measuring the blood oxygen level. It had been there ever since he was taken into the room, but he didn't really notice before.  
The young man's eyes darted around the room, finally settling onto Peter, who was still there with him. Neal was surprised to see him still here. Not that he wasn't happy to see him, though, considering that when he was in that old house and shot he had been fearing he might never see him or anyone else again. But still, since he had been awake once before he had figured Peter would've left for home. But he hadn't.  
Secretly that meant a lot to Neal. It proved that Neal wasn't only Peter's responsibility, his CI, but that he was also a friend. He had always known that Peter liked him, cared about him, but right now, Neal realized just how much Peter actually cared, although the older agent probably wouldn't admit it. Although Peter once did admit that he liked Neal and maybe not only because of the challenge. Maybe Peter had had enough faith in Neal to be sure he could turn the young man around for a life of honesty, without going around stealing things. And maybe in the long run, he really did have a chance.  
"Peter..." Neal merely managed to croak. His voice was quite hoarse and his mouth was almost bone-dry, making it hurt as he tried to speak. He actually wanted to say something, but the pain it caused in his sore throat made him reconsider.

Peter on the other hand, got up immediately and stood next to Neal's bed, looking down at him. His warm brown eyes offering comfort to the injured con-man. "Hey. How're you feelin'?"

Even now that he was still tired and in a pain, he arched his brows at that question. The one question everyone asked when someone was in a hospital. "Been better." Neal gave a short reply, instantly regretting that he spoke when he started coughing. It set his lungs and throat on fire, but luckily it lasted just a few seconds. But it still caused a worried look back onto Peter's face. But watching Neal, Peter turned around to grab the cup of water from the bedside table and the straw. He unwrapped it and put it into the filled cup. He didn't even need to ask if Neal wanted some, the look on the young man's face was enough of an answer. So Peter held the cup in front of Neal and helped him to his first sips of water since he got to the hospital.

"Slowly, Neal." he told Neal. Under different circumstances Neal would've been annoyed, but right now he was too concentrated taking sips of water to actually care about it. Not to mention that Peter meant it well. And Peter couldn't know that Neal could have killed for a single drop of that cool, soothing liquid. The cool water slowly eased some of the pain in his throat making Neal feel a little better. Peter put the cup back onto the table after Neal had enough.

"Thanks, Peter." the blue-eyed man said, clearly being thankful. "Feelin' a lot better now."

"Good." Peter replied, offering Neal a small, but comforting smile. "What the hell happened in that basement, Neal?"

Neal looked up at Peter, his blue eyes now looking serious. "I wasn't careful enough when I searched his office... and didn't know about a camera he had installed... pulled a gun on me as soon as we were inside the house."

"And he brought you downstairs to question you. We heard that part. But why did he shoot you?"

"He didn't. Not on purpose."

Peter frowned, not really getting what Neal was saying, but after thinking about what happened when they reached the basement, Neal's word suddenly made perfect sense. He must have jumped in front of the bullet to close the door he was about to open. And then Peter realized that Neal may have saved his life when he got shot. "He had his gun aimed at the door. He heard us coming?"

"Exactly. He would've shot whoever entered the room. Which..."

"Which would've been me." Peter finished Neal's sentence.

Neal gave a small nod to Peter. His actions had been a spur of the moment kind of thing, but thinking about it, they may have been caused by a hint of selfishness. Because if something happened to Peter, that would mean that Neal may go back to prison, something he didn't want. But that wasn't the thought running through his mind when Neal did what he did. Neal couldn't actually remember what he had been thinking when he jumped in front of the bullet. Maybe it was just the fact that he did what he thought was the right thing to do. He wanted Barry Maloney locked away and Peter was the one who could make that happen. And after what happened earlier, after being shot by him, Neal was certain that he wanted Barry behind bars. Or Allan Little as he now called himself. And maybe he did care about Peter. He wouldn't want anything happen to the man who gave him a second chance. Or a third one, if he considered the second chance was when Peter agreed to his deal. And yes, Neal knew that he had been close to blowing it more than once. Or course he cared, after all, he trusted Peter. Although he had been hurt in the process and there was always that trust issue between them, because Peter wasn't someone who placed his trust easily, you had to earn it, but in the end, the older Agent was always there to protect Neal from screwing up his life. He always tried to keep the younger con-man from doing something stupid. And truth be told, Peter knew how to handle Neal. And maybe one day, he'd also know how trust him.

"You saved my life..." Peter said, after a few minutes of silence had passed. "Why?"

Neal shrugged a little, looking up at Peter. He knew he had to reply to his question, so Neal said the first thing that popped into his sleepy mind. "For so many reasons... one of them being that I know... of all people out there... you're the one who'll catch him."

Neal's reply brought a small smirk to Peter's face. Of course he'd say that. After all, he caught Neal – twice. And found him a third time. "Well... haven't caught him, yet. He managed to slip through traffic."

"Dammit." Neal cursed under his breath, he wanted to say something but he was stopped by a yawn. "Either he's gone again, or he may come back to finish the job if he knows I survived."

"We'll get him." Peter told him with a reassuring nod and a firm squeeze to Neal's shoulder.

Neal nodded slowly in reply, his blue eyes locking with Peter's warm brown ones. There was something in Neal's eyes that Peter had only seen once: trust. "I trust you, Peter. And you're the only one... I know you'll catch him." he said honestly, before he yawned once again, now finding himself struggle to stay awake. Dang those meds. He felt like he could sleep all day and it was only afternoon.

"Get some rest, Neal. I want you back on your feet asap. Got it?" he added with a teasing smirk.

"Yeah, got it. So you can torture me again."

"I don't torture you."

"Yes you do." Neal replied with a serious nod.

"No, I don't."

"Yes."

"Shut up and rest."

"Okay." Neal replied quietly, but smirked a little bit; for the first time since he woke up.

"I'll be back in the morning. Behave."

"Always do."

Peter opened his mouth to say something, but then decided to shake his head instead. He got his suit jacket and coat and left Neal's room, telling him to take it easy and rest and that he was going to be okay in no time. Neal watched Peter leave with a small smirk tugged to his face. A few minutes after Peter left, Neal closed his tired eyes again, drifting back to a restful sleep.

A week went by and Neal was making good progress on recovering. He still had some trouble breathing, meaning he was quickly short on breath, when he was allowed to take a few steps to shower himself or go to toilet and his rib was still sore, too, but it was steady progress. He was doing better each day. And he had a lot of support. Mozzie, Elizabeth and Peter seemed to take turns to visit him in the hospital, Peter letting him know what was going on in the office, what progress they made on finding Maloney. Mozzie and Elizabeth provided the mental support, telling him he'd be up on his feet and the same as always in no time. There was a lot of friendly concern there, but Neal didn't mind at all. It showed he belonged somewhere and he had people caring about him.  
That went on until the day he was released from the hospital with strict orders to rest at home for the next couple of weeks, check in with the doctors frequently to see how he was doing and then go back part-time at first. Peter had insisted on picking Neal up the morning he was released. While Neal himself insisted on carrying his own small over-night bag, that held his hospital paperwork, painkillers and some clothes that he had used on his stay, they slowly walked out of the hospital to the parking space, where Peter had his car parked and waiting for them.

"You look like you wanna tell me something ever since you got here. What's up, Peter?" Neal finally asked, after they exited the hospital. Breathing in the fresh, but cold air outside felt good and feeling it on his skin made Neal feel much better.

"You can tell?" Peter asked back, raising his brows but the look he got from Neal made him shrug. "Alright... we have no paper trail left to catch Maloney."

Neal looked at Peter with a frown. "What's that mean?"

"It means that two days ago he's quit all his accounts. He cleared out his bank account and got rid of everything that Allan Little possessed, so we can't track him."

"He's gone off the grid."

"Which means he got away."

Both men stopped on the way to the car and looked at each other. Neal frowned even more. This time it was a more worried frown. All his work at the office with Maloney seemed to lead nowhere now. Maloney got away with the boiler room scam, mortgage fraud and attempted murder and Neal didn't like that at all. But he knew some day they would get him. If Maloney was as ruthless as everyone said he was, he'd come back some day to finish his business with Nick Halden. After all, he didn't get any answers out of him the first time around. Although Neal figured Maloney may know he had been working for the Feds and that was reason enough for a guy like Maloney to come back for revenge. And Neal began to wonder if he should be worried about that.  
He slowly nodded at Peter and sighed. "Well... you didn't get him this time, but... you will catch him."

"We will catch him." Peter corrected him.

"Right. It's just a matter of time. But he figures Nick Halden may be involved with the feds, he'll be back for revenge. He just needs time to get you off his tracks and his back." Neal said, a hint of worry now evident in the young man's voice. And Peter instantly picked up on it. He put his hand on Neal's shoulder and gave hit a gentle squeeze.

"We'll get him, Neal."

"I know, Peter... I know."

Both men looked into each others eyes, no words needed to be exchanged to know what they were thinking. They knew. And as they continued their way to Peter's car the first flakes of snow silently began to fall from the sky, dancing around both men as they walked away from the hospital.

_**To be continued...**_

* * *

_**Thanks everyone for reading this chapter. PLEASE let me know what you think, okay? It only takes a minute to leave a review and you don't even need to be registered to leave one... so please? :)  
As you can see, the story isn't quite finished yet, so yes there will be a sequel. If you guys want to read one that is :) but it's planned already and has been planned since I started this story, so stay tuned for more and THANKS so much for reading and supporting my work! It means so much to me, I can't even tell you how much.**_

_**And before I forget... HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you, although it's two days early, but I wish you all the best for the new year and I hope to see you next year :)**_

_**blackrose538**_


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